Answer: "Squash!"

A serious answer to the question could be swimming. For, elephants in the wild have been observed to play and have fun when they get into the waters. They splash and spray water on each other and generally make a lot of happy noises.

But did you know that some elephants, in captivity, played polo? But hold that "wow", because for these elephants play is actually hard work.

But first, let's have the news.

The 2008 King's Cup Elephant Polo Tournament commenced on April 1st in Thailand. At the opening ceremony, Buddhist monks sprinkled holy water and draped garlands over the necks of the 28 elephants. The animals were then given a buffet of fruits and vegetables. The annual event raises money for the National Elephant Institute, which provides medical care and sustenance to Thailand's elephant population. It is estimated that Thailand has around 2,500 domesticated elephants and 1,500 wild elephants, down sharply from about 50,000 in 1950.

But what is elephant polo? The game is actually a variant of the original equestrian (horse) polo and is played in India, Nepal and Thailand. The tournament in Thailand will be played with three elephants per team. A game comprises of two 7 or 10-minute chukkas (rounds). The players use specially made elongated polo sticks that are anywhere from 5 to 12 feet in length, and a standard size, polo ball.

Each elephant carries a polo player and is "driven" by the mahout. The mahout communicates with the elephant with verbal commands and by applying pressure to the back of the elephant's ears with his feet or with a sharp, metal device called the ankush. . The player's responsibility is to let the mahout know where to go, how fast, when to stop, etc. A foul is declared if an elephant picks up the ball with its trunk. The umpire of the game oversees the play from the back of the largest elephant.    

Elephant lovers, the world over, want this cruel sport banned. Horse polo they say is not so bad because the horse rider and player are one. And so to the horse, it is like he is riding it. But when elephants 'play' polo they don't do what is natural to them. These intelligent animals are forced to do what they do, through harsh training methods. The mahouts punish them severely during the training period and the elephants perform out of fear of pain. As proof of how the elephants are trained to obey the rules of the game, the activists claim that all polo-elephants have tell-tale scars on their bodies.

But the polo association insists that these are exaggerated accusations. They say that the elephants gain by the sport as the funds collected through the tournament is used in elephant conservation programmes.
But do you think anything justifies using animals to entertain us? 

This is a lovely poem titled "Think of us" written by the famous rock star Maria Daines

"We are large and heavy and our feet are sore
We are part of a game with a tiny ball
There are long sticks and shouting,
We don't know the score,
We don't understand but we must go forth,
There is cheering and clapping,
We don't make a sound,
We tire very easily thudding the ground,
Can you guess what we are?
Can you guess what we do?
We are elephants, elephants
Playing polo for you."